


Stars In Your Eyes

by hiraiyubi



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Let's see how this goes, Mentions of Red Velvet, chae is an art student, cmon bad summary!, first chaeyu fic!!, first fic after being on hiatus for a while LMAO, mentions of blackpink - Freeform, nayeon may or may not actually show up in this fic idk man, tzuyu is a model
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-09 05:53:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15260850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiraiyubi/pseuds/hiraiyubi
Summary: Chaeyoung always worried about trying to find inspiration in her life. What she doesn't realize is that the beauty in life isn't found by digging, but by letting it find you.She decides to dig anyways, even though what she was looking for is closer by than she thinks.





	1. When You Smile At Me

Chaeyoung walks out of her professor's office, file in hand, a scowl set on her face. Mina gasps as the younger approaches her from the other side of the hall. "I'm guessing your meeting with the teacher didn't go well...?"

The other girl scoffs in response. "What gave it away?"

Mina smiles at her as she slings her bag over her shoulders. "Oh, nothing." She checks her phone briefly before taking her camera out as the two walked on a pathway leading out of the art departments. She brings the camera up to her eye and snaps a quick photo of the scene of rushing students played out in front of her. "So, what'd she say this time? Picture didn't fit the assignment or picture was boring?"

Chaeyoung mutters as she passes her free hand over her face. "Second one. _Again_." She opens the file, inside are a few pictures, one photo over the maximum amount for the assignment. Which, surprisingly, her professor never even uttered a word about it. Chaeyoung turns her attention back to the photographs, all of them black and white (her favorite filter), and all of them of the same subject. "Hey, Mina."

Mina hummed from behind her camera, taking yet another series of pictures. 

"What exactly was the theme of the last assignment, I kinda forgot."

The other girl set her camera around her neck, "Beauty in everyday life. Quite interesting topic, in my opinion, favorite one from this semester. Why exactly did you do so poorly on this? The assignment was pretty open to whatever route of interpretation."

"I..." she keeps staring at her photos. "I don't know. These seemed fine, I thought for once I wouldn't get chewed out for my photographs."

"Hm," Mina looked down at the yellow file, "let me see those." She shuffled through the photos, different pictures taken of students painting and drawing, hands frenzy in motion to catch the lines of a brush or a pencil. "Oh, I see the problem."

"You... _do?"_  

"Yeah. These photos look too forced. Let me guess you sat down to think about the assignment and the first thing that popped up in your head was what you ran with?"

Chaeyoung glanced over at Mina, no words coming out of her.

"I'm right aren't I?"

"...Yeah..."

Mina chuckled and shook her head in silent amusement, her ponytail bouncing behind her. "Ah, Chaeyoung. You have to put more thought in these assignments. I know you're still in your second year of school, but there's only so long until the professor stops calling you to her office after assignment and just starts giving you Fs. Do you ever listen to her advice or her criticism, she must be saying something close to what I'm telling you at the moment."

"I do! It's just...I'm having some problems finding inspiration for my work. It's my first year being an art major and honestly, I'm starting to regret switching majors after one year."

"Don't say that, your photos are fine. You just need to work on your focus on the subject of your art. Who cares about the photo quality when your photo is boring?"

"I guess. It's whatever," Chaeyoung sighs as she stuffs her file into her bag. "We have a big assignment coming due date coming up in three Fridays. Which means I've got three weeks to fix this mess and prove to Mrs. Park, that I'm not god awful at photography."

"At least you're planning ahead. Now we know that your bad photo quality isn't from procrastination." Mina says with a shrug. Her camera's shutter goes off again.

Chaeyoung peers over her shoulder at the photo display on the screen of the camera and nods, "What's the topic for this assignment, it has to be something good if this is one of our final grades of the semester." She snickered under her breath, "It's probably something cheesy as usual."

"Cheesy stuff is cute, though," Mina said as she shuffled through her bag of papers. "Here we go."

"What's that?"

"Paper we get in class today. Which  _you_ should have already, but ~~~~~~-~~ "

"But I have you so no need! I agree, thank you for making that wonderful point, Mina. So profound of you." Chaeyoung interrupted.

Mina rolled her eyes to hide the small smile forming on her face, "Not exactly what I was going to say, but I think you articulated my train of thought just spot on."

"Yeah, yeah," Chaeyoung answered with a small giggle, "what's the paper say, though? I actually think I threw mine away."

"It's our project sheet, I can send a picture of it to you later when I get back to my dorm. So the basic synopsis of our assignment is to take pictures based on the subject of an object of love and how they or it embody the feeling."

"So..." the younger girl pauses, "...basically what is love."

"Hmm, yeah, I mean it's open for interpretation, definitely a very ambiguous theme. Then again when isn't our homework ambiguous..."

Chaeyoung stopped listening choosing to stare at Mina until she finished her rambling.

"What?"

"...Oh, nothing."

Mina shook her head jokingly again at her friend," Before you call it a day, I think there's somewhere I should take you. I went over to this place a while ago when I was having some trouble with a project for class. There was a big open house because a new major had been just added to this university. They had built a new building for any of the new students that wanted to take part in the new major since the other art departments didn't have the supplies they would need. I met a pretty good friend there." Mina clicked through her photos. "She talked to me a bunch that night, she was so pretty I can still remember her smile. We ditched the party together and just walked around the art campus until like two in the morning. She helped me out of my funk and I took some of the best photos in my whole life. Landed me an A for my final grade."

She sighed as she stopped on a photo, black space, stars scattered around a dark silhouette standing out against the background. "When I went to go find her the next day, I couldn't. Never caught her name and all the photos I have are too dark. It was so long ago, too. All I can remember is her smile."

"Interesting. So I'm assuming that's where I'll be going with you?"

Mina nodded.

"You think I'll meet a drop dead gorgeous girl who will then give the biggest creative epiphany ever so I take the best damn photos to ever exist?"

"No, only I have that power. You're stretching it, newbie."

"Ahh, just shut up and take me."

Mina started to lead Chaeyoung to the new destination. "I have game you know. You'll see when all the girls flock around me once I set foot in the building."

"Is that a bet? I could always use another 20 bucks y'know."

Chaeyoung sighed as a small grin started to tug at the corners of her mouth. Mina laughed as they left for their next location.

"Ohh, you meant the _modeling_ majors." Chaeyoung turned to Mina. "Why didn't you just tell me that?"

Mina shrugged, "Element of surprise. And excitement. The element of surprise and excitement."

"Thank you for that philosopher Myoui. I needed that in my life at 7 PM on a Friday after class."

"You're Welcome," Mina responded as she led the other up the stairs and into the building. "Seems like they've done some renovating, haven't been here since it's opened. Makes me feel old."

Chaeyoung hummed as they walked down one of the halls, "Are students still in class at this time? Night classes don't usually start until 10 o' clock."

"Everyone should be done, a lot of modeling majors stay behind though because they have to take photos. A good portion of photography students are friends with the models and ask them to pose for their shoots for class. That or someones helping them with their portfolio. Modeling majors actually do a fair amount of work in the other art departments, you'd be surprised. They're hardly in their actual building because they're always somewhere else, kind of a waste of this nice place."

The pair kept walking down the long hallways, Chaeyoung peaking into every room as they padded by, retracting her eyes a moment later once she caught sight of a male model wearing  _too_ little amount of clothing. "So, what exactly are we here? I know you brought me here to try and suddenly produce the greatest set of photos known to man, but how exactly are we gonna achieve that?"

Mina quirks an eyebrow turning her head away from another passing classroom, "I may know someone that could help, come on." She wrapped her hand around Chaeyoung's and guided her through hallway after hallway, room after room until they stopped somewhere all the way near the very back of the building. "Room 756, this is where the fashion models are at. The ones that do runways and magazine shoots, stuff like that."

"Appreciate the description, but I think I know what a fashion model is, thank you very much." Chaeyoung peers into the tiny window on the closed door of the room, she watches as some of the students were getting ready for a shoot, makeup being done, clothing fitted. She turned her head to get a better view and as she looked in the corner of the room one of the models head shot straight up and looked her directly in the eye. At least that's what Chaeyoung thinks as she whips her head around and hides on the wall next to the door, away from the random girl's piercing gaze.

"Chaeyoung are you okay?" Mina asks as she watches her younger friend glance back at the door with a bewildered look in her eyes. The other shakes her head and peers back into the room only to go back to her place on the wall a second later.

"One of the girls! I swear she looked right at me!" Chaeyoung jutted her thumb in the direction of the window.

Mina chuckles her hand coming up to her face as she laughs behind her palm. "And that's a reason to freak out  _because_...?"

" _Because_ she was pretty as hell! Like she looked like she flew down from heaven! I've never seen someone soso..."

"...Gorgeous?"

Chaeyoung slid down the wall she was leaning on, plopping down on the ground, her jacket and bag rustling together in the process. She covered her hands over her blushing face and sighed through the slits of her fingers. "Yeah, that," she mumbled from the sealed off space from her hands. Mina sat down next to her, legs crossed and bag between them. She looks over at her friend, "I think you have a crush, Chae."

"Me?" Chaeyoung asked slapping her hands down on her knees to bring up one of her fingers to point towards herself. "Me? A _crush?_ No....no, never."

"What? You look pretty flustered over that girl in there, don't you think that's a sign you could be crushing in the near future?"

"No."

Mina shook her head in mock disbelief. "Whatever you say." She fetches her phone from her bag, checking her notifications and then turning it back off, only to turn it right back on to check the time. "Twenty-five minutes."

Chaeyoung looked up at the clock sitting high on the opposite wall. "Until what?"

"One of my friends is in there, her and a few of her friends are going out with me for some food tonight. I thought you could maybe tag along with us. After they all finish their shoot in twenty-five minutes, that is. I don't exactly know what you'll gain from hanging with us, but I think it'll be a start for the journey for the perfect set of photos. Maybe you'll find what you've been looking for this whole semester. Who knows?"

"Inspiration..." Chaeyoung mutters to herself. Mina looks over at her with a fond smile on her face," Exactly."

So they wait and wait and wait. Mina closes her eyes after about ten minutes, whispering broken words about how she needed the shut-eye because her friend was too rowdy on Friday nights. Chaeyoung shrugged it off and continued to stare at the clock until the last few minutes were ticking by on the clock. The girl could feel the itch on her skin from the sheer excitement spreading around her body. Two years into college and Chaeyoung couldn't exactly say it's been her most fun times. Down this day, this very hour, minute, second, Mina was Chaeyoung's only real friend. Which the younger guesses is a slight problem, but it keeps her out of trouble, Mina isn't much of a party fanatic either. So, her days usually consist of casual talk with her roommate, Jennie, coffee runs with Mina, visits to the library, studying, taking photos whenever she could, and working shifts at a nearby animal shelter. A nice routine, but boring nevertheless. The excitement of school wasn't really her thing, nor was it important to her.

Mina's soft snoring knocked Chaeyoung out of her trance, she glanced back at the clock as it ticked on its last minute. Twenty-five minutes had passed and 7:30 at night had finally come. Chaeyoung turned to shake Mina awake, she stirred awake after a few of them and some taps on the head. She took her phone back out of her pocket and grinned at whatever someone had sent her. The older directs her attention over at the door as it swings open on cue, students all filing out. Some with full makeup on and casual clothes on, others with hoodies and seas of plaid, cameras hanging around their necks, bags slung over their necks, the rest dressed in black with aprons still tied around their waists, hair and makeup brushes stuffed in their pockets, boxes filled with makeup pallets and hairspray at their sides.

A few of the students came over to where Chaeyoung and Mina were sitting, one girl smiled down at the both of them, Chaeyoung thought she looked like a cute dog, not sure what breed, though.

"Hi, I'm Minatozaki Sana, fashion modeling major." She motioned to the other girls around her, "and that's Jihyo, Dahyun, and Tzuyu," Sana said pointing to each as she said their names.

Chaeyoung's eyes followed Sana's hands as she introduced her friends, her breath stopping as she pointed at the last girl, Tzuyu. The same girl that caught her staring inside the classroom from the window's view. As far as she could tell, Tzuyu recognized her as well, if the other's staring was something to go off of. Mina waved a hand in front of Chaeyoung's face, "Helloooo, introduce yourself."

"Oh, uh, right.....um, sorry, I'm Son Chaeyoung, photography major. Nice to meet you all."

Tzuyu looked down at her, "Nice to meet you, too."

Chaeyoung's throat dried all over again, "Uh..thank you.." she managed to force out in response. Mina shot her a confused look and went back to talking to one of Sana's friends, Jihyo.

Sana tapped her watch and hummed, "Well, we should probably get going, the lights are going to be turned off soon and we have a little way of a walk back to the entrance. We can finish or start any conversation once we reach the restaurant." She reached her hand out to help Chaeyoung up, which the latter happily accepted as she could feel her legs weaken because of the holes Tzuyu was burning in the back of her head. The younger girl jumped up from Sana's tug, landing her a little too close to the other's face. Sana smiled in response, Chaeyoung finally realized she resembled a Shiba Inu, a popular breed at the animal shelter she works at. Chaeyoung smiles back just as big.

"And I'll have a strawberry lemonade and a side salad for now," Sana hands the menu back to the waiter, smile on face, "thank you!" The waiter nods back in response before leaving to go get the group's drinks. Sana turns to the newcomer, "So, Chaeyoung what brings you to our weekly girls' night out? Looking for some fun before the semester ends?" she still has a big grin on her face.

"Actually, I came out because of an assignment," she glances at her bag stuffed with random papers from various days and her camera with several detachable lenses. "I've been struggling with my photography classes for let's say a while now. Mina thought coming out with you guys would help me somehow."

Jihyo spoke up this time, "Well, we  _are_ model majors, after all, goes hand-in-hand with photography. Depending on what your topic is I think any four of us could help you."

"What exactly is the topic?" Chaeyoung looks over to the person asking only to catch Tzuyu looking right back at her, expression empty on her features. It takes Chaeyoung's last breathing word from her conscience to snap her out of the daydream she was stuck on from the other's deep eyes. "Umm...love..."

Tzuyu quirks a brow. "Love?"

Chaeyoung tries to look her in the eyes as best as she can. "Love."

"Tzuyu, the topic is based on the subject of an object of love and how they or it embody the feeling. My friend here was just shortening it up for you."

"Yeah," Chaeyoung nodded in mock agreement, "what Philosopher Myoui said." Mina shoves her away as the younger giggles into her hand, from the corner of her eye she can see Tzuyu crack a small smile as she turns her head down to fiddle with her hands, trying to hide the way the corners of her lips are starting to curve up in a tiny grin. Chaeyoung tries not to stare yet again because the girl looks even prettier with a smile. She didn't think it was humanly possible for someone to be this gorgeous and never in her life would she think someone could get even more beautiful. But there Tzuyu was in all of her tall glory and long dark hair, with deep brown eyes that Chaeyoung could get lost in for days. Finally, she looks away from the other and tries to distract herself with the conversation floating around the table, she immerses herself in the talking and pushes away the lingering blush on the tips of her ears. In the back of her head, a flash of Tzuyu's smile was played on what seemed like an infinite loop.

Chaeyoung sits on her bead scrolling through the photos on her camera. It had been four days since she had gone out with Mina and a few of her other friends, it was a nice experience for her, she ended up exchanging numbers with everyone. Including Tzuyu. She hadn't seen any of them, Mina, as well, since Friday, either. Chaeyoung wasn't one to initiate things, so, whatever day any of the asks if she wants to hang out, she'll hang out. For now, though, she decided to focus on her project. Chaeyoung had taken a few photos on Sunday and Monday and they were nice looking but lacked emotion and the girl could feel the hollowness of every photo. The beauty of them only appearing on the surface, the raw feelings behind them stolen in the night.

She sits up placing her camera on her desk, heading to her closet to fish out a sweater and a fresh pair of jeans. After, stuffing her phone and a spare twenty dollar bill in her pocket she sets out on campus, camera in hand and eyes wide open, searching for her missing link.

Chaeyoung's photos have always lacked something, sometimes it wasn't obvious, but it was always there. She could see it,  _feel_ it, her photos had no real quality and were faker than any ordinary picture you could find on a semi-famous Instagram page. All show, no tell, the story was there, but the words fell short. Chaeyoung continued to stare at the project paper she had copied onto a normal sheet of lined paper, her eyes scraping over the same words over and over again. The girl kept walking to busy worried about what her project could  _possibly_ be on rather than where she was going.

She bumped right into someone, who muttered an apology and ran off to catch up with their friend. Chaeyoung shrugged it off and something caught her attention as she was turning her head back on her paper. She had carried herself all the way to modeling majors' building. She could turn back now, shake it off and head over to the animal shelter or possibly Mina's dorm room. Chaeyoung insisted, though, her mission was to find her missing piece and if this is the first place she lands, rolling with it seemed like the best idea.

The girl didn't really know why exactly this is the first place she had in mind, in the back of her head she could hear a voice screaming something, but she couldn't hear it correctly. Like the telephone line from the back of her mind to the front wasn't broken, but the front didn't want to put the phone up to their ears to listen. It was fuzzy and she tried to ignore it but the feeling was repetitive and felt like something was tapping on the sides of her head too many times to count.

"Oh?" Chaeyoung stopped as she heard someone from behind her. "Chaeyoung, right?" The said girl turned to see a familiar face, Dahyun if she remembered correctly.

"That would be me!" the younger girl replied, enthusiastically, "what's up?"

Dahyun laughed as she nears the other, "I should be asking  _you_ what's up, what brings you to this side of the campus? The photography building is a few blocks from here if you're confused."

Chaeyoung rolls her eyes at the attempt of a joke, "Nah, it's my off day, trying to get another head start on my project since Friday didn't do much. I was just walking around and this was the first place I landed at, so here I am."

"Hm, are you here for Tzuyu? I could tell her that you're here, you know. You guys are same age friends, or, er...aqquintences. Maybe she can help you!" Dahyun says her arms wrapped around Chaeyoung's shoulder, already leading her down the hall, presumably to the room where Tzuyu was located.

Chaeyoung's legs stuttered from underneath her as she was dragged down the walkway, "Ah," she nervously spits out, "you don't have to do that, besides I'm sure Tzuyu is busy or whatever. Probably like super packed today."

"No, no, she's totally free besides she's like kinda third wheeling right now with me and Sana, and if Jeongyeon shows up soon she'll be like uh..."

"Fifth wheeling," Chaeyoung finishes off for her.

"Yeah, that! So, I think she'd be quite happy to have someone she could escape with. Who knows maybe you guys will get to know each other really well," Dahyun looks around in the hall and behind the curb, "she's single, just in case you wanted to know." Dahyun winked from behind the hand she was using to whisper not-so-discreetly.

"I'm what?"

Chaeyoung and Dahyun whipped their heads around to see a tall figure looming over them, with another person peeking out from behind them, curiosity clearly painted on their face. Dahyun spoke up first as she registered who the two random people were, "Oh..." she chuckled guiltily, "Tzuyu...what a surprise..."

"Were you talking about me?" She asked, eyebrows already shot up on her forehead. "Seems like you were telling a secret of mine..."

Dahyun glanced back at Chaeyoung before stepping in front of her, as to shield her from the taller girl, " _Me?_ I would  _never_ share secrets about our precious young member of the group. Who do you take me as? Someone who can't keep secrets?"

"Yes," Tzuyu said flatly," and who are you hiding behind there? Is it that one boy from the literature building, again?" She stepped in between Dahyun and the Chaeyoung, lightly moving her out the way. The person wasn't anywhere near as close to the annoying boy she had in mind, in fact, they were millions of miles better. And way cuter. "Oh."

Chaeyoung chuckled, an embarrassed flush already sneaking up on her cheeks as she waved at the other, "Heyy..." she coughed into her hand. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Likewise." Tzuyu looked her up and down, "What brings you here?" Chaeyoung looked over at Dahyun, who was animatedly mouthing at her to  _not_ relay any of the previous conversations, as she watched the older act out a scene where she's mangled and set on her deathbed in peace. The younger thinks it's best not to mention what the other was just doing now, either. "Oh, uh, just came down to see some of my...friends?"

"Oh, well uh," Tzuyu gazed at Sana and Dahyun behind her, already sharing a lovey-dovey look with each other, and puts her attention right back on Chaeyoung after a second of that, "Jeongyeon is probably gonna be arriving in a bit and Jihyo and her are a lot to handle together, so are this love-crazed girls here." She leans forward, closer to the other girl, "Do you mind if I ditch with you?"

Chaeyoung's mouth almost falls all the way open, it doesn't so she just ends up staring instead, because Dahyun must be some cupid sent down from heaven that has like super- clairvoyance or something, the events right now are unfolding just how she said they would. "Uhh....sure! Uh, yeah, yeah, sure we can do that, yeah."

"You sure? We just met a while ago, it may be a little awkward. It's okay if you don't want to, I'll understand."

"NO!" Chaeyoung gasps softly at how loud she was, " I mean, no, it's fine. We're the same age, it shouldn't be too hard for us to get along. If you're okay with it, I think it'd be fun to hang out."

It's Tzuyu's turn to stare now, not expecting as genuine of a response as that and now she can feel her cheeks starting to tingle as they're brushed over with a pink hue. She puts her head down again, sheepishly, mimicking what happened on Friday, and smiles. Chaeyoung catches it all in full HD as she looks at the girl in front of her in wonder when yet another gorgeous smile graces her face. "We should probably get out of here now." Chaeyoung nods, silent, as she's still thinking about the taller's small, dimpled smile. 

"Dahyun, Sana? Chaeyoung and I are going to go look at some of the other classrooms, thought it could be of some help with her project. Is that okay with you guys?"

"Huh," Sana says looking away from Dahyun, "Oh, yeah, we'll tell Jeongyeon you had to go and do some homework or something." Dahyun grins at Chaeyoung, "You guys have fun and good luck on your assignment, Chaeyoung. We'll see you guys later, we should all hang out again sometime. If you need me just call, okay?!" she yells as the other two start to descend down the hall, she sends flying kisses in their direction in which Tzuyu turns around in whacks the invisible kisses away from her. Dahyun laughs from down the hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was supposed to be a ONE SHOT LMAOOOO, but fitting the whole thing in one chapter would be so many words so I'm just gonna split it up into like idk four chapters?? two? three?? idk. i wanted to write a one shot bc i needed to get out of my writing funk and originally i was gonna write a bunch of oneshots for a bunch of twice pairings. starting with chaeyu bc ive never written on them yet! (i'm usually a samoyeon kinda centered writer tbh) so um yeah, enjoy this ig i will finish this up and see what i'll do next, i think i will be resuming a moon's full light afterwards (sorry to my readers of that fic!!! i know ive been gone for so long sorry guys!)


	2. When You Laugh

"Vanilla will always be better than Rocky Road, you know that, right?"

Chaeyoung creases at the thought of that actually being true, she sticks her spoon into her tub of ice cream again, "That will never be true. Ever. In any universe to ever exist. If that was true my organs would shut down."

Jennie laughs, "Pretty sure your organs will shut down anyway if you don't stop eating your ice cream like your Flash or something."

"Wish Lisa was here. She'd be on my side you know, I bet she likes chocolate ice cream."

"No, Lisa's my girlfriend so she likes Vanilla."

Chaeyoung raises one of her eyebrows in challenge, "Fifteen bucks, she says she likes chocolate ice cream more than plain, bland vanilla."

Jennie matches her competitive roommate's expression, she puts her own tub down on the floor and puts her hand out for Chaeyoung to shake. "You're  _ so  _ on."

"No cheating!" the younger takes the other's hand in a firm grasp, "she's your girlfriend, no cheating, fifteen bucks is precious to me." The older rolls her eyes in amusement, "You say that like you're broke or something. It's not like you go out a lot, either." She looks over at Chaeyoung knowingly, "Unless it's with Tzuyu, of course..."

"Hey!" Chaeyoung flushes, "Tzuyu and I are just very friendly individuals that enjoy each other's company. Nothing more, nothing less."

"You don't even sound like you're convincing yourself, you know that, right?" Jennie scoops more ice cream onto her spoon," besides how else are you guys gonna start going out if you're just calling your dates "hangouts". You can just say you like her I won't tell."

"That's" she falls short, "that's a conversation for another day. For now," Chaeyoung licks her spoon clean from her Rocky Road and steals some vanilla ice cream from her friend, " I wanna see who gets the fifteen dollars." She eats the stolen cold treat with a big smile as Jennie gapes at the big scoop missing from her tub because of the younger. She pads over to the dorm room phone and dials out Lisa's room number, too lazy to go search for her actual phone on the couch. Jennie shields the phone on her shoulder, "You're buying me more ice cream, by the way!" she yells over from the other side of the room.

Chaeyoung shrugs, "In exchange for the fifteen dollars? Sure! If you win the bet that is."

Jennie rolls her eyes, "Hey, Momo, it's Jennie," small silence, "Yeah, could I speak to Lisa. Thanks, I'll see you tonight." Another short silence. "Hey, babe, how are you today? Sorry I didn't call this morning."  Chaeyoung whistles from her spot in front of the small tv. Jennie sticks out her tongue. "Can I ask you a question? Mm, yeah, uh, do you like chocolate or vanilla ice cream more?" The younger girl perks up already, "Not asking for any particular reason, just wondering." Jennie stood still as she listened, "Oh." The other girl leaned forward almost as to hear better. "Yeah, okay, thanks. I'll see you soon, okay? Love you, too."

"What'd she say?!" Chaeyoung yelled as soon as Jennie put the phone back on the wall. Jennie walked back over, letting herself fall back on the floor next to her roommate, she takes another bite of her ice cream, shoulders slumped in defeat. "Chocolate..."

Chaeyoung hops up, Sailor Moon blanket still around her as she dances in her spot, ice cream on the floor beside her. She shimmies her body to a silent rhythm, "Chocolate always wins!" she sticks her tongue out. Jennie hits her leg with the back of her hand, trying to hold back the smile growing on her face. A knock sounds on the door, Chaeyoung quirks one of her brows, "Expecting someone?"

The older shrugs, "Must be mail or something, maybe the hall manager, I don't know," she says through the small scoop of ice cream in her mouth. Chaeyoung rolls her eyes and trudges over to the get the door, or at least peer through the peephole and fake that she and Jennie aren't home based on who she sees standing on their doorstep. "Mail. Must be something from the art institution."

"Well we are both art students and we do both live in the art dorms."

"Yeah, good point." Chaeyoung opens the door, decked out in a fuzzy blanket, heart covered pajamas, and her freshly cut hair slightly frizzed up on one side. She eyes that once she says th e delivery girl's stare at the spot of hair for a split second, the girl coughs. "Mail."

"Uh, thanks." The younger takes the envelopes in waves the other off before closing the door. She shifts through the small pile of letters, stopping once she sees a familiar name scrawled in the top right corner of one of them. "Mina sent me a letter, what an old timer," Chaeyoung says as she strides back over to the spot by the TV.

Jennie gasps, "She's like one year younger than me or something are you calling me old?!"

"Yes. Grandma Jennie."

"No respect for the elderly, I see," the other shakes her head in fake disgust, "no hope for you kids these days."

"Oh, shut up," the smaller slips out between soft chuckles. She's still carding at the edges of the letter Mina sent, she opens it promptly after peeling the small heart sticker off carefully and bending down to press it on Jennie's cheek. The other laughs softly and lets out a small 'thanks'. Chaeyoung skims over the contents of the letter, which turned out to be a small card with a baby cat printed on the front. Nothing special about what Mina wrote, but Chaeyoung smiles fondly anyway, until she reads the last line. 

_ Good luck on your project :) _

"Oh,  _shit_ _!"_

Jennie sits up straight, eyes wide in alarm at the sudden curse from her young roommate, "What! What?!"

"I'm supposed to meet Tzuyu today at 1! And," Chaeyoung rushes to grab her phone, " It's 12:37! Oh my  _god. Oh my god."_

"Jesus, Chae, I thought one of Mina's dogs died or something, don't scare me like that!"

"Are you not listening?! I have a dateera  _hangout_ that I'm going to be late to! That's an emergency!" Jennie shoots her an unimpressed look, "Yes, that is indeed leagues worst, I completely understand your plight."  Chaeyoung sends a glare towards the other, "Whatever, I need to get ready, Jennie room  _now,"_ she juts her thumb to their joined rooms, "I need you to pick an outfit for me so I don't look like a fool next to me giant goddess of a friend." Jennie laughs at 'friend', Chaeyoung slaps her shoulder before shuffling as fast as she could to the showers in fuzzy socks without falling. Jennie laughs harder at that.

~~~~

Jennie shakes her head, proudly, "I'd say I did well." Both girls are dressed now, Jennie deciding maybe she could go out and do something or simply just head over to Lisa's dorm earlier than planned. She has a nice plaid dress on that she claims is from one of the best online brands right now, while Chaeyoung is dressed similarly in some slightly loose fitting, skinny cut, plaid paints. The former has a black shirt under her dress and the latter of the two has a long-sleeved black shirt paired with some nice black sneakers of hers. 

Chaeyoung smiles at the other as they stare at their reflections in their big, oval mirror that Jennie insisted they get because the mirrors the university offered was too tiny for her liking. "We look like sisters," the younger turns to the other and puts her fingers in Jennie's hair, "maybe if you just," she makes small snipping motions with her hands.

"Cut my hair? Yeah, thanks for the suggestion nutjob."

Chaeyoung guffaws, "You had a shortcut for like the first four months I knew you." Jennie nods with an expression etched on her face like she tries to forget those times as much as she can. "Isn't your girlfriend waiting for you or something?"

"No, she's just a friend of mine," Chaeyoung says as she heads to grab her jean jacket and get ready to go.

"Whatever you say, go get em, tiger!" Jennie chants as the other is half out the door, Chaeyoung visibly glares at that. "Stop talking like my auntie!" she hollers from down the hall. Jennie lets an amused puff of air out as she grabs her phone and wallet and heads out of the dorm herself.

 

Chaeyoung can see Tzuyu approaching from where she sat in her usual seat at her favorite cafe, in the front, to the left of the door, but two tables away from the actual entrance so passersby don't catch snippets of her conversations. If she's actually with someone that is, that someone usually being Mina more often than not. Tzuyu is already in front of the table the older was located at and like always Chaeyoung couldn't help but stare. Her and Tzuyu had become more acquainted with each other since the day Dahyun had dragged her deeper inside the modeling building and leading them all the way towards the back where the others were.

The two girls had surprisingly found several similarities between them, while they were almost as different as night and day, they fit together like a puzzle piece. Chaeyoung would bring the other to her favorite local cafes and to her animal shelter, taking time to personally introduce the younger to each and every pet there. Likewise, Tzuyu would take the older to the mall and thrifting where they'd gather tons of clothes on a Sunday afternoon and try them all on like they were all in one huge fashion show. Chaeyoung would bring her tiny camera or her polaroid with them sometimes and would snap pictures of Tzuyu or her dog, Gucci, sometimes both in one shot. Her favorite photos were the ones she got of Tzuyu is bell bottoms and a white tee at the roller rink, Sana and Dahyun racing alongside the girl. 

Chaeyoung thought that she got more gorgeous every time a new side was revealed to her, the twinkle in the younger's eyes when she talked about Star Wars, or her fleeting smile sprawling across her face when she got another modeling offer. Tzuyu was lovely to her through and through. 

She gulps, "Hey, Tzuyu." The said girl dimples slightly at the mention of her name. "I got you your usual by the way, vanilla latte with sugar-free vanilla syrup."

Tzuyu eyes the drink, gratefulness shining in her eyes, "Thanks," she responds as she sits down across from Chaeyoung, the usual start to both of their days. "So, what's the agenda for today? I think we should go to university fair tonight, it'd be fun if we could get everyone together again before the semester wraps up."

"Oh? I didn't even know they were having a fair this year, the one from last year was so fun, I'm glad," she takes a sip of her tea, "but that sounds really fun, I'd definitely be on board with that. For the rest of the day, I was thinking we head down to the record shop, head to this new cafe for lunch, and then maybe shopping because spring is really going to come faster than I want and then I'll be stuck with pants and long sleeves all season." Chaeyoung looks over at the other who's currently sitting, listening attentively, nodding a little. "I mean if that's okay with you."

"Sounds like fun to me, come on Chae," Tzuyu chuckles, "I always have fun with you, where we go doesn't matter because I'm with you anyways."

Chaeyoung tries to keep the blush from rising on her cheeks, but so far she doesn't think it's working much, "Right. Uh, thanks, thank you. I meant to say thank you," she adds with a cough to her fist.

Tzuyu tips her head back a little and releases a small chuckle, "Oh, Chaeyoung you crack me up." Chaeyoung smiles sheepishly in response and goes back to sipping on her tea before it gets cold and her three dollars and sixty-five cents goes to waste. They both sit there relatively quiet, they sat, set on finishing their drinks before they went off for the day. The silence was comfortable though little words were shared during the time. Tzuyu would show Chaeyoung her Instagram story and her posts that somehow Chaeyoung had missed, though it seemed like she was always on her phone. The pictures were nice, though, which was all the older was focused on other than how cute Tzuyu looked in a picture with Jihyo.

The younger girl's Insta theme had definitely changed over the weeks she had known the other girl, a lot of her photos now had orange-tinted retro-ish filters on them and she had shots of piles of polaroid film, courtesy of Chaeyoung. She even let the older draw on her pictures in editing apps, most of them ended up with strawberries, sunglasses on Gucci, and a big princess crown placed on top of her head. Her newer internet personality was more care-free now and her photos started to reflect her teenage, soon-to-be-but-also-still-kinda-a-model side, which Tzuyu was pleasantly happy about. And oddly enough, she now had more friends of hers featured on her page. She always wondered how her past self had managed to keep everything so business regulated. 

They finish the last drop of their drinks and head to go throw them away and start walking to the record shop. Chaeyoung felt a little awkward next to Tzuyu, like her brain was shaking and screaming that it went against every law of nature for her not to be holding the other's hand as the traveled. She stifled the sensation and kept going, looking over at Tzuyu for a second before settling her eyes back to the front. It stayed like that for a while.

The doorbell sounds and suddenly Yeri is wide awake from her hourly nap. She cracks her eyes open to try and spot the new customers from behind the big record player. It was probably an elderly couple that usually come in the middle of the week between 12-2pm and touch everything reminiscing about song after song, that or some art student trying to be retro for Snapchat or something. The strangers started to peek around the corner, as far as the girl could see it looked to be a couple.

They came closer, and she could see that they looked kind of like art students, way too dressed up on a college campus to not be. As they finally approached the front corner, the two had warm smiles set on their faces, Yeri squinted as the familiarity of one of them set into her fuzzy, still half asleep brain.  _Oh._

"Chaeyoung! So nice to see you!" Yeri almost but shouted in the store, leaning over the counter to give a small hug to a long-time friend of hers. "Haven't seen you in a while since you changed majors, how's the art life? Is it better than the business departments?"

Chaeyoung rolled her eyes, "Please, Yeri, any department is better than business. You of all people should know that."

Yeri reached for a small clementine in the basket on the far left of her, she started to unpeel it. "Even law?  _And_ history?" she asked as her eyes trailed to the girl next to her friend who similarly stretched her arm to grab some fruit from the basket, which from the other's view had a sign that said ''Fruit free to take". A billion questions formed at the back of her head as she discreetly stared at the tall girl, mainly them being around  _Who in the hell is that pretty?_

"Okay, maybe not law or history, but business still sucks." Chaeyoung answers, snapping Yerim out of her trance. She looks away from the anonymous, tall girl and focuses back on Chaeyoung, she coughs. "Right."

"Anyway, this is one of my friends from the art departments, Chou Tzuyu. Model, same age as us," Chaeyoung shoots the said girl a small smile. Yeri grins at that but turns to Tzuyu instead, hand out in greeting. "Hi, I'm Kim Yerim, you can call me Yeri if you want, though. Nice to meet you, I'm a history major." Tzuyu took her hand, a pretty smile still on her face, as expected from a teen model. 

Chaeyoung sticks her tongue out, "You changed your major? And out of all the options uni offers, you switched to  _history?"_

"Yes," Yeri said as she went back to peeling her orange, "because like you said, business sucks. Like majorly."

"Huh, nice joke." Yeri rolls her eyes at her friend, "Shut up and enjoy your date with your girlfriend." She retorts with a devilish smirk to her voice as she watches Chaeyoung flush a vibrant pink from her cheeks to the tips of her ears. Yeri throws the orange peelings behind her and starts at eating her clementine, small grin still stuck on her face as she watches her friend sheepishly lead Tzuyu to the back of the big shop.

Tzuyu smiles down at Chaeyoung as the older shifts through some of the records, pinked cheeks being hidden from the other's view. " _Girlfriend?_ _"_ Chaeyoung can already hear the teasing brow in the younger's words as she lingered behind her, she turns around when she decided her cheeks were down to about its normal color. "Uh, yeah, Yerim's just a little, um, straightforward. You'll have to excuse her," she coughs, making the mistake of bringing her eyes up to meet Tzuyu's, "she's a bit blunt with her words." Chaeyoung lingers back to the stack of records. Tzuyu hums and follows after her.

They stay like that for a bit, Chaeyoung telling the other about the endless amounts of 70s blues she's listened to over the years, Tzuyu is intrigued, to say the least, having only been listening to regular old pop music for what seems forever. "Oh, look!" Tzuyu exclaims pulling out a vinyl, all blue except for a woman in the middle and some words scratched on the front, some old font style. "Whitney Housten! This is her single  _I Wanna Dance With Somebody,"_ she pulls the record out of its cover and searching for the record player and pops it on, immediately starting the track. 

Chaeyoung sets the album she had in her hand down and reaches for her camera. Tzuyu jumps and spins as the rhythm of the song comes out, mouthing every word with full enthusiasm. The younger turns and spots the other's camera and points dead at the lens, still bouncing and pretending to belt out 'Oh I wanna dance with somebody'. They both laugh together, swaying to the disco beat of the track, Chaeyoung's photos come out a little blurry now that she's full-on dancing with Tzuyu, but she couldn't care less as Whitney belts out note after note. Chaeyoung and Tzuyu clutch on to each other as Whitney sings "Don't you wanna dance, don't you wanna dance? With my baby, with somebody who loves me!" 

They dance around, hair whipping and hands held as the song ends, they giggle at each other's appearances, hair everywhere and faces flushed. They turn their heads when they hear a cough from behind them. Chaeyoung peaks over Tzuyu and lets out a nervous laugh when she spots Yeri, tapping her feet on the ground in annoyance. "Y'know you guys aren't supposed to be jumping back here like that, with all these albums stacked they could possibly fall and then I'd have to pick them all up..." Yeri trails off, looking back up at the other two's apologetic expressions. "Ahh, I'm  _kidding!"_

"Jesus, Yer, you scared me! I thought I was going to have pay something or some shit!"

"No, I don't care about this job like that. Someone could just come in take an album, tap me awake so I could watch them walk out without paying and I wouldn't do like anything." She says, shuffling closer to Chaeyoung and Tzuyu and pulling a track from the piles of music, "I'm just bored and wanna join you guys because you look like you're having fun if the excessive giggling is anything to go by." She slides the vinyl onto the record player. The first words of  _Don't Stop Believin'_ start playing and they all smile at each other as Yeri grabs a mic and starts to sing along like they were at a karaoke cafe. She hands Tzuyu the mic and they all start jumping around as the lead singer of Journey belted out a high note and a guitar solo followed.

Yeri and Tzuyu fling their hair back in forth in attempts to mimic a rock guitar player as best as possible, Chaeyoung snapped several shots of them vibing out with the music and their invisible drum sets. The girl put her camera down before linking arms with the other two and bouncing together as Journey sing "Don't stop believin', hold onto that feeling!" and more belting follows. They all continue to sway and dance, singing word after word of every new song they put on, Hall & Oates'  _You Make My Dreams,_ Queen's  _Bohemian Rhapsody,_ Michael Jackson's  _Billie Jean,_ TLC's  _No Scrubs._ The list goes on and the girls didn't stop their antics until they were all left with dry throats and slightly limp bodies. 

"That was," Chaeyoung started from her position slumped on the ground next to Yeri, "quite a workout." Tzuyu groans in agreement and Yeri sticks a tired thumb up in response, Chaeyoung chuckles softly at that. "Well, I think it's time for Tzuyu and me to go, Yeri." She hefts herself off the floor, helping the other two while she was at it. "Hope we haven't overstayed our welcome."

"No," Yeri croaks out, "no, trust me this has been the most fun I've had in a while. So, like, thank you, I guess." Chaeyoung snorts, "Yeah, that's what you get for being a history major, Rims, maybe switch to the art department and we could do this more."

Yeri glares at the other from behind her shoulder as they all walk to the front of the shop, she sits on her regular stool once they reach the counter. "I actually have been thinking about switching, I've been really into design lately. I think I may wanna try graphic designing some time, I-D-K."

"One, whatever you choose in the end, I'll be happy for you nevertheless. Second, never say "idk" out loud ever again," Chaeyoung states, a small smile to her voice as she conversed with her old friend. "Oh, can I have this vinyl by the way? I wanted to buy it but there's no price on it."

"Naah, just take it, I got you. Just think of it as an early birthday gift or something. Knock yourself out, kid."

"My birthday was in April. Also, I'm only one month younger than you, you know that, right?"

Yeri gets up from her spot to shoo the two out of the store after being there for almost over two hours. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, kiddo. Now scram if there's no one in the store by the next twenty-five minutes I can close early and go catch up on some sleep before I have to address my big ass end of the semester paper for history. So, if you two lovebirds wouldn't mind," she gently shoves them out the door and closes it behind them. "Go kiss somewhere else," she mouths from the other side of the closed door where she's sure the two couldn't possibly hear her. She watches with a childish glint in her eyes as Tzuyu and Chaeyoung's mouth fly open in shock.

"...Like I said, she's a little straightforward," Chaeyoung says straight after, the two still standing at the shopfront even after Yeri leaves to assumedly get ready to close down soon. Tzuyu turns to the older, a smirk lurking on her face, "A  _little?_ " she asks with a huff to her voice. Chaeyoung nods in agreement, "Yeah. A  _little._ "

They both burst out in laughter, giggles tumbling out both of them despite how tired they were not too long ago. Tzuyu swings an arm around the other as they stumble down the sidewalk due to the almost massive height difference between the two. Chaeyoung hobbles next to the other not even complaining about how much she has to straighten her back to make the stance somewhat comfortable for at least one of them. She smiles, wide and genuine as she meets Tzuyu's eyes looking down at her, fond smile present on her face too. They both grin wider and let out a few laughs, clutching each other as the late afternoon approaches. Singing old music lyrics and skipping down the bare streets of the campus store ways.

Tzuyu stops her singing for a bit to listen in on the other and immediatly it was like her heart was pounding. Punching and kicking at her ribs, threatening to break out and confess the undying love that she was keeping caged in the chest of hers. 

The younger blushed.

Never in her days had she ever felt so happy. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS TOOK SO MF LONG to write wtf ! literally ive been working on this for more than a week, and usually, i try to write a bit about every day. so sorry for the wait to anyone reading this and has been waiting for an update. i decided to cut this chapter short, originally i had planned to include more but i needed to update and this was already taking so long lmao. but anyways i hope you guys enjoy and to anyone who reads my endnotes what twice pairing do you want me to do next and tell me what genre you'd prefer too ! i always find peoples ff preferences interesting


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